Process of producing rubber films or deposits



Patented Sept. 22, 1942 UNITED STAT rnocnss or rao uomo RUBBER mmsl OB DEPOSITS Eskii Julius Gavatin and Beno Steiger, Stockholm, Sweden No Drawing. Application January 4. 1941, Serial No. 373,196. In Sweden March 12, 1940 3 Claims.

. as the strength of the rubber film may be jeopardized thereby. The discard percentage therefore seldom falls below 20% even if the most favourable. working methods be made-use of. Accurate investigations have shown that products made in a. known manner by spraying on forms are marred by pores or microscopically minute perforations produced on account or the air blisters enclosed within the latex emulsion In practice.

The presence of these blisters obviously entails weak portions in the film or deposit, by reason of which the spraying method also shows aconsiderable percentage of discard. Consequent ly, this method has not found any wide use hitherto, in spite of the fact that it involves certain advantages from other Points of view.

The present invention relates to a method suited for continuous operation for the manufacture of homogeneous rubber films or diaphragms free from pores and blisters. Accordin to the invention, this result is achieved by relieving the latex emulsion of air and gas blisters enclosed within the'samc. This eflfect may be achieved by atomizing the latex emulsion in a gaseous or vaporous (volatile) medium so as to produce a mist or cloud of latex particles,

the size of which being substantially larger than the colloidal size of the latex particle, i. e. about 0.2 to 5 u. In a finely divided state of thisdegree the latex particles do notcontain any air blisters. Therefore, it this cloud is brought into contact with a form, arranged for instance in a closed or open chamber, the particles-will deposit on this form so as to constitute a homogeneous film without air blisters and without forming any spongy rubber. A product thus produced is free from pores and is far more extensible than if made by the usual latex emul- SIOIL The atomization may also be eiiected in vacuum, and the produced'blister-iree latex suspension may be used for other processes than. sp ayi say dip t To bring about the said expulsion of air, the

- such name may be arranged to be movable atomization of the latex must be carried much farther than in the spraying methods hitherto employed, in which the removal of the air was never any point of consideration. It is highly sur rising, too, that according to the invention the latex particles can be isolated from the surrounding air blisters in this manner so as to form particles, for instance in the form or a cloud, entirely relieved of blisters. For carryin the invention into effect it is immaterial per se how this cloud is produced, but'a simple method is to bring about the atomization by meanof a stream of air. vapour or gas forced ahead at a high rate of velocity. said gaseous stream then impinging upon one or more .jets of the latex emulsion and atomizing the latter while imparting simultaneously a certain velocity to the cloud thus formed. Heretofore, it was not considered possible to remove the air blisters by such an air current. However, the atomization may also be carried into effect otherwise. for instance by causing the latex to fall in drops onto a rapidly rotating body or disk. I! the gaseous medium required ior the formation of the latex cloud is supplied simultaneously with the latex particles, it may be found suitable to evacuate the chamber containing the form or forms.

The above-mentioned'iatex cloud may be sta tionary or have a certain relative movement toward the form. In the lat er case, the form should be at a certain distance from the place where the latex cloud is being formed. in order that the'isolated latex particles shall have an so as to form a opportunity to flow together homogeneous film or deposit on the form. In one case a suitable distance wasiound to be about 25 centimeters. but the invention is obviously not limited to this numerical value. If the latex cloud is stationary, the time during whichtheformispermittedtobewithinthe cloud should be controlled in a suitable manner so as to formation of the homogeneous him or depomt of any desired thickness.

Itanomlaspraygunorthelikeismade use of for the production or the latex cl tivelytotheformortormswhichinturn. alsobearrangedtorotateaboutthelrown an /or to move through the cloud at a rate of velocity such that the latex particles may deposit to the desired thickness while he form.

isbeingmovedthroughthecloud. Thetorm may also be stationamhoweven- It a plurality of forms be arranged on a movable'band, belt.

table or other conveying contrivance, the method may be carried out continuously in its one tirety. After the forms have been removedout of the chamber, drying and vulcanization may be effected in any known manner, whereupon .the films or deposits may be s ripped oil. the

tion shall be interpreted as illustrative and no in a limiting sense.

What we claim is: y l. A process of producing rubber deposits fron latex emulsion comprising the steps of relieving the latex emulsion of enclosed blisters by atom- .ization so as to form a cloud of latex particles dispersion of natural'or synthetic origimwhich maybe admixed with accelerators or other substances if desired. In the latter case the particles of the added substances preferably should also have asize falling below or within the said size of 0.2 to 5 t. According to the concentration of the latex, films or deposits of varying thicknesses may be produced.

As many changes could be made in the above process and many apparently widely diiferent embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, as defined by the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above descripin which the size of the latex particles aftel atomization at the most amounts to approximately 0.2 to 5 g.

2. A process of producing rubber deposits from latex emulsion comprising the steps of relieving the latex emulsion of enclosed blisters by atomization of a jet of the emulsion by forcing a stream of gasthereon so as to form a cloud of latex particles, at least, the maJority'of the particles having at the most a colloidal size oi 0.2 to 5 a, applying the produced blister-free latex onto a form and then removing the produced deposit from the for 3. A process as claimed in claim 1, in which the deposit is dried before being removed from the form.

.- ESKIL JULIUS GAVATIN.

BENO' S 'IEIGER.

qmz'rxricnm 51! conmcnox.

September 22 1942. ESKIL' mama an.vrik, .m u.

' :1}. 1a hereby erfifirieajmt erro r' app'f ara in the printed. speificatiori A: the above umber-ed patent rewiring eprreetionne rellowez Page 2, sec- 0nd. column, line 2i, -cl|im' 5, for the blah: reference gumeral 1 read --2--; an that the said Letters Patient Should harem withthie correct 1'o.n therein thei -the 'aame may confofqi t e-the reco'rd ofthe case in the Patient Office, a

[Signed and aealed. this 27th aaymgot'dbe Lin, 1912."

V g m-var; Ar'adale (sesli A ctfing Comnisaienr of QPdtentsJ 

